BitPay, which processes payments for merchants in the decentralized digital currency Bitcoin, said Monday it recently secured capital from a group of investors that includes Ben Davenport, a software engineer at Facebook; A-Grade Investments, a venture-capital firm that includes Ashton Kutcher; and Trace Mayer, an entrepreneur and blogger. Participants in the round's first half invested at least $510,000 apiece, and investors in the round's second half have funded the company in amounts that the company has not disclosed. "It's still all the same seed round," says Anthony Gallippi, the company's co-founder and chief executive. BitPay will use the money to hire up to seven new employees in such areas as software development, sales and marketing, adds Gallippi, who says the startup will wait until later this year before soliciting subsequent rounds of capital. The funding co...